Nigel Annand

THE SUNDAY TIMES: A STATEMENT FROM RICHARD TICE MP, DEPUTY LEADER OF REFORM UK   The Sunday Times is still crawling all my business career in the hope of dredging up some more obscure technical issues from years ago. They openly admit their "journalism" is a joint venture with a senior Labour Party activist. This smear campaign is getting ridiculous. As a result, I now appear to have a debenture slot on the front page as they rehash the same old dividend story. The Sunday Times article features assumptions, numbers and dates that are simply incorrect. Like the rest of us, they and their Labour Party tax experts sometimes make mistakes. It is all extremely technical: good luck keeping up. Meanwhile, the Financial Times has been busy calling up former work colleagues and advisers from my past, trying to find some dirt. This is what we, at Reform UK, are now up against.   In a highly successful career spanning 40 years, I have done business in 12 countries across three continents, and been a director of more than 150 companies. I have helped build thousands of homes, creating thousands of jobs and generating hundreds of millions of value for shareholders and investors along with many tens of millions of tax for HMRC. I am very proud of this record. Throughout this career I have taken professional tax advice and have always paid everything that I was advised to pay.   Here’s the reality: tax efficiency is a basic corporate responsibility and duty to shareholders. A long career with multiple businesses is bound to feature some errors. Naturally I am always happy to put things right and if numbers need rechecking, of course I will pay what is owed – be that more or less. It is worth noting that last time my political enemies did this to me, during the Brexit referendum, HMRC concluded that I had significantly overpaid.   It is a measure of Reform UK’s success that Establishment media is coming after me in this way. Senior elements within News UK seem very unhappy about how well we are doing. Doubtless this will not be the last time, and I will not be the last target. Certain journalists are determined to put the worst possible gloss on everything I have done.   Meanwhile they wilfully ignore the highly questionable accounting of millions of pounds in Labour Party Properties Ltd. By any objective measure, this is a much simpler and more shocking story - but we are not in the land of objectivity here.   The relentless effort to tarnish my good name is the kind of behaviour that deters other successful business people from going into politics. The consequences are very real - as we can all see with the current Labour Cabinet, which is entirely devoid of business experience. The result? A flatlining economy and dire public services. All in a nation facing humiliation on the world stage.   After several weeks of this treatment, I won’t be indulging the Sunday Times any further. I am working flat out for my constituents and campaigning for the local elections. If my primary interest were making money, I wouldn’t be giving everything I’ve got to trying to save our country.   PS: It is worth noting that we have the longest tax code in the world at circa 24,000 pages and counting, whereas Hong Kong’s is less than 500 pages.   Richard Tice MP, Deputy Leader, Reform UK

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